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jbl7701 's review for:
Florence Adler Swims Forever
by Rachel Beanland
My rating hovers between 3.5 and 4 stars. The latter half of my review is what pushes the review closer to 4 stars. It’s really hard to write a review for this book without spoilers, but here goes. Florence Adler Swims Forever takes place during the summer of 1934 and centers around a young woman named Florence Adler. Florence was training to swim the English Channel. The story is told from the perspective of her parents (Esther and Joseph), sister (Fannie), 7-year-old niece (Gussie), brother in-law (Isaac), Florence’s swim coach (Stuart) and young woman (Anna) living with the Adler family for the summer. The big event/twist of the story happens in the first chapter and all the above-mentioned characters are forced to keep secrets. Since the book takes place in 1934, the ability to keep such a big secret for almost two months is plausible, it would never work in the current digital age. While l enjoy a story told from multiple characters and perspectives, I felt like there were too many characters telling this story. The 7-year-old niece and brother in-law’s story lines could have easily been absorbed into the sister Fannie’s story. I wished there was a stronger connection between the characters across the chapters. After managing to pull of the big secret, the reveal and ending were a bit of a letdown for me. I wished there was at least a chapter or two wrapping up what happened after. I was invested in the story of Anna, the young woman spending the summer with the Adlers and Fannie, the sister.
This book did manage to pique my curiosity about certain events taking place during the 1930’s which always makes me enjoy a book. The author manages to do a good job weaving events of the time into the book. I always read the book to the very last page and in this case reading the author’s note gave me a greater appreciation for the entire book. I would recommend Florence Adler Swims Forever and look forward to more books by the Rachel Beanland. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.
This book did manage to pique my curiosity about certain events taking place during the 1930’s which always makes me enjoy a book. The author manages to do a good job weaving events of the time into the book. I always read the book to the very last page and in this case reading the author’s note gave me a greater appreciation for the entire book. I would recommend Florence Adler Swims Forever and look forward to more books by the Rachel Beanland. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.